Here is a write up of our November 2023 trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the final Formula 1 race of the 2023 season. We first spent 3 nights in Dubai at Hyatt properties for free using free night awards and points. We then stayed 4 nights aboard the MSC Virtuosa cruise ship as part of MSC's Formula 1 experience package, which included tickets and transportation to the race for less than our "near-by" Las Vegas Grand Prix would have cost. Definitely a great deal!

Date: November 19 - 28, 2023

2023 was the year when Formula 1 came to Las Vegas. Since we have been following the races over the past few years (thanks to the Netflix miniseries!), we thought, hey why don't we try making it there since we live relatively close by? That was at least until we saw the ticket prices. The cheapest packages were around $1,500 per person, and I am not even sure if this already included the hotel room. Around this same time, I started noticing the MSC Cruises advertisiments during F1 races which got me intrigued whether perhaps MSC offers some discounts. A quick internet search brought me to the booking page for a 4 night Formula 1 experience "stationary cruise" out of Abu Dhabi. Essentially, MSC decided to park the Virtuosa (just after arriving from Mediterannean tour) at the Abu Dhabi port for 4 nights, and offer it is a floating hotel for guests attending the season endinging Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. And the rates were excellent. Our stay in Oceanview Deluxe cabin (i.e. no balcony, but it didn't really seem necessary) along with 3 day ticket for the (cheap) North Straight Grand Stands came out to $1,370 per person, with all fees and taxes included. This was less than what Vegas would have cost, and included not only accommodation, but also breakfast and dinner for the duration of the stay. Lunch was not provided (so this was half-pension), but it didn't matter as I doubt that many "cruisers" planned to stay on board during the day anyway. There were also multiple activities scheduled, such as different meet and greet parties with former racers, and the ship retained its usual nightly theater productions. This seemed like a so much better deal, and it would also give us a chance to add a the United Arab Emirates to the list of countries we have visited.

Our original flight, with Lufthansa, had us have an 8 hour layover in Munich. I was excited to show Sandra around, as she has yet to visit this German city. Few weeks prior to departure we however received a notification from the airline notifying us that we got moved to a different flight connecting via Frankfurt. It also left us with only a 2.5 hour change. As we were already familiar with all Lufthansa lounges, we decided to hop into the Air Canada one. Well, this one was bit of a let down. It was quite dirty, with food on the floor, which probably made the resident rodents happy! Sandra spotted a mouse running around, as you can see in the picture below. We did not stay much longer after that and moved on to the familiar, but clean and better stocked, Lufthansa option.

Grand Hyatt Dubai, November 20-22

The flight itself was quite uneventful. Due to the rather complicated political situation, flights from Europe follow a narrow airway stradling the border of Iran and Iraq, as can also be seen from our route map. The flight got in at 11pm. This was our first time ever traveling to the Middle East and the airport was our first introduction to the Arabic culture. All immigration officers wear the white "tunics", called thawbs. These robes are just as commonplace as formal suits in the west, but to newcomers to the Arabic world as us, can be quite fascinating. After passing through immigration, we taxied over to the Grand Hyatt, where we stayed two nights for free thanks to a Hyatt annual free night awards. This is an impressive Hyatt property! The ground floor lobby is filled with tropical plants, and the outside is flanked by a massive pool and even an aviary housing multiple peacocks. The room from our our was quite impressive too, and gave me the chance to try out the new Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80D camera bought for this trip for its impressive 30x optical zoom. It worked out pretty well, although as of writing this report in August 2024, I no longer have it. It fell during an excursion from a 2024 conference in Avignon, and the lens mechanism broke. I figured I'll just replace it but apparently there is currently a massive zoom compact camera shortage since this, and all other similar cameras like Sony Cybershot and Canon Powershot are sold out everywhere.

Our first sightseeing involved taking a taxi to "Al Seef", which is a historically-looking market area right on the Dubai Creek, across from the Deira neighborhood. Here we joined a tour group that took us first to the Al Fahidi historical neighborhood. This is where we got to see some true traditional houses and even enjoy tea inside of them. There was a tent set up demonstrating how the nomadic tribes used to live in the desert, even featuring a falcon. The houses were filled with manequins illustrating the use of different rooms for cooking, play, socializing, and religious studies. I very much enjoyed this part of the tour. Again, this was my first ever exposure to the Arabic world, and even if staged and somewhat artificial, it was still an experience I likely would not have had otherwise. We next made our way to the creek, where the group hopped onto two "abras", or traditional wooden boats that ferried us over to the opposite bank, where we first traversed a spice market and then found ourselves in the famous Gold Souk. This is a bazaar specializing in selling gold products. Some shops try to attract customers by demonstrating some truly ridiculous items, such as the massive ring shown below.

The tour ended in the Gold Souk and we were then on our own. As we were close to a green line metro stop, we decided to continue our sightseeing by visitign Dubai's famous malls. Dubai has two metro lines: green and red. The green one runs along a U shape along the creek, connecting the airport and the Deira neighborhoods. The red line parallels the coast and travels towards the Palm area in the direction to Abu Dhabi. The two lines intersect at the Burjuman and Union metro stations. There we transferred onto the red line and took it to the Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall Metro. The metro trains have regular carriages, and also a "gold" carriages located at the end. It costs more to ride in the the gold carriage but they are less crowded and being at the end also helps with sightseeing.

On our way to the mall, we got to see some highlights, such as the Museum of the Future. Unfortunately, this museum requires ticket booking several weeks in advance, which we did not know, and as such, had to limit our marvels to the external walls. In the picture below you can also see the wide spread smog. The smog was quite heavy this first day, but was not so bad once we moved to the Palm Jumeirah area. The Dubai mall area is really massive. Just to give on the idea of scale, just reaching the mall from the metro station required what seemed like a mile long wall through air conditioned glass corridors overlooking massive skyscrapers. Inside you will find higlights such as the ice rink, massive acquarium, or the impressive waterfall. The mall is subdivided into different neighborhoods, with the Chinatown offering an eclectic mix of eateries. We will get back to eating here on our last day of the trip, when we also spend more time in what was our favorite part of the mall: the upscale Fashion Avenue. But this time, I spotted a Bosnian restaurant. Never having had - or even knowing much about - Serbian food, we popped into the Bosnian House. Apparently kebabs are popular in Bosnia as well, but wow, they were amazing!

Well, the main attraction for everyone visiting Dubai has to be Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, reaching to 2,722 ft or 0.83 km. It is located just outside the Dubai mall. The observation tower tickets get more expensive the higher one wants to go. We opted for the mid-tier option that goes to floor 148, and then floors 125 and 124. The most expensive option reaches up to floor 154, and comes with a champagne and a tea selection, which seemed unecessary. Frankly, I enjoyed the most the view from floor 125. Already at 148, you are so high up that the views below get distorted. You are also contained to area behind glass. Floor 124 has an outdoor observation deck that is open to outside air. We got some nice views of the singing fountains from here. We timed our tour to just before sunset, which offered us some spectacular night time views.

We next hang out around the mall area observing the fountains and LED displays playing various advertisements on the facade of the skyscraper. We had tea and a cake at one of the outdoor restaurants by an artificial canal, before making our way back to the mall, now crowded with late night - and cooler air - shoppers to make it to bed after an exhausting day.

Andaz Dubai the Palm, November 22-23

The next day we took a cab to Palm Jumeirah, the famous collection of artificial islands in the form of a palm tree that hugh the Dubai coastline. Palm Jumeirah is in fact just one of three such developments, but so far, the only one that has been completed, with construction of the other two (Palm Deira and Palm Jebel Ali) on hold for now (Palm Jebel Ali looks complete, but there are no houses on it with development stalled like this for almost 10 years, while Palm Deira has just the stem). The same is true for The World, which are supposed to be islands describing the continents. Here we were staying for one night at the Andaz. Although we are not "beach people", we wanted to stay in this area to check out this other famous part of Dubai. And also, out of curiousity, to see whether we run into as many Russians as I expected (which we indeed did). Dubai became a popular destinations for well-off Russians to escape sanctions.

The Andaz is located at the base of the palm tree. It is is a very nice property - as pretty much all Andaz hotels are. I think this is my favorite Hyatt brand, mostly due to their modern modern and eccentric decor. Our room had a nice view at the rest of the Palm, including the Anantara resort on the outermost ring.

That evening we had a reservation for the Skyview Lounge at the Burj Al Arab, Dubai's iconic luxury all-suite hotel. Entry to the hotel, which sits on its own artificial island, is restricted to hotel guests and those with a dining reservation, so this was our way of getting in to check it out. We started by having drinks at the lounge, which although not bad, I also did not find it particularly special. Basically, once was sufficient. Before leaving, we stopped at the ground floor coffee bar, where Sandra tried their famous gold-leaf capuccino. And of course we had more cakes. This ground floor was more spectacular, and was adorned with massive flower bouqets. The exit (and also entry) is on an escalator running along a tall wall housing an aquarium. From there, we headed over to Marina Creek

The next morning we headed to the Nakheel Mall located across the street from the Andaz to board the Palm Monorail to get to the outer ring, where many travelers head to the Atlantis hotel for their massive waterpark. We thought we will be able to grab something to eat in the hotel but nothing was open when we got there. As such, we proceeded for a long walk towards Sofitel. I enjoyed this walk but Sandra was not too happy with the heat. But the destination was worth it. We had nice cake and coffee there, and also eavesdropped on a former Czech female tennis legend discussing some meeting planning with the hotel staff. On the way there, we got to observe the Dubai skyline, with Burj Khalifa towering over the other skyscrapers. While this makes one appreciate its height, I found it somewhat deceiving since I suspect the surrounding skyscrapers are all "only" around 50 floors tall, unlike, let's say skyscrapers in New York City which tend to be around 70 floors, and hence this makes Burj Al Arab seem taller by comparison. We also passed by the Atlantis, the Royal hotel which does not have a waterpark, but instead features impressive architectural style. If we ever come back here, I will try to stay here just out of curiousity. Although at at least $1,000 per night (but usually at least twice that), this likely won't be anytime soon - and not for many nights!

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